


who wrote the book of love?

by nonameforhire



Series: BMRT Universe [2]
Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Mutual Pining, aaravos and gilavor get roasted, and callum being oblivious, but not a date, i wrote this to celebrate the one year anniversary of bmrt, it's a library date, it's got that, rayla being annoyed she's in love, so enjoy dudes, yes the title is because they're in a library
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:20:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23955991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nonameforhire/pseuds/nonameforhire
Summary: Callum and Rayla have homework, but neither one of them are particularly good at completing it. Fluff ensues.(This is a piece I wrote to celebrate the 1-year anniversary of The Boy with the Moon Rune Tattoo! It's set in that universe. I hope you guys enjoy!)
Relationships: Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince)
Series: BMRT Universe [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1725508
Comments: 10
Kudos: 53
Collections: Dragon Prince





	who wrote the book of love?

**Author's Note:**

> This is set between chapter fifteen and chapter sixteen in BMRT, btw.

“Rayla, I don’t think the librarians would approve of your legs on the table.”

Rayla looked up from the book of swords she was reading. She wiggled her slightly muddy boots, which were dangerously close to a pile of scrolls. “What, is this bothering you?”

Callum frowned, setting his finger in the middle of his textbook to mark his place as he looked up at her. She waggled her eyebrows at him, and he couldn’t help the snort that escaped from his lips. Before he could think of a response, she swung her legs down from the table and swiped the jelly tart in Callum’s free hand out of his fingers.

“Besides,” she said, taking a bite out of the pastry. “I don’t think the  _ librarians _ would approve of this.” She waved it in the air in front of him and Callum tried to snatch it back when it got close enough to his face. He only succeeded in getting a smudge of jelly on his fingers.

They were sitting in the library on campus attempting to do their work for Lujanne’s class. Or, well…trying to. Considering that neither Rayla nor Callum were particularly invested in their homework, it was rather slow going. Even though Callum had indeed been reading intently up until a minute ago, the book had nothing to do with moon magic. The scrolls they needed for their homework had been dangerously close to getting mud flakes on them just a second ago.

Still, he really couldn’t find it in himself to care much. With everything that had been going on in his life recently, it had been increasingly harder to work on their classes. While Lujanne may have been understanding of their plight, it would look suspicious if she gave two of her students free passes for no reason. Pharon would ask questions, and that would lead to attention they didn’t need. Even though Callum knew all of this quite well, he just…didn’t care as much about his studies as he used to. He had more important things to worry about, after all. Exhibit A: the fact that Rayla was  _ still _ waving his own jelly tart in his face.

“ _ Rayylaaa _ ,” Callum whined, trying to keep his voice low as he made another swipe for the dessert.

Rayla rolled her eyes and threw the jelly tart at Callum’s forehead. “We’re in public, dummy. No talking.”

Callum flinched as the pastry hit his cheek, a little off from where she had aimed. He managed to catch it before it hit the table and popped the rest of it in his mouth. “Rayla, we’re in the  _ library _ . There’s literally no one here.”

“Shh. I’m protecting you. It’s my right as your gallant hero.” Rayla put a hand against her forehead dramatically as she leaned back in her chair, her feet resting once more on the table in front of her.

He frowned. “Does that make me the damsel in distress?”

“Nah. That’s Gilavor.”

Callum snorted, trying and failing to hold in a laugh. The idea of Gilavor needing anyone to come and save him from anything was just as funny as Rayla attempting to do so while maintaining that dramatic flair.

“Why, sir Callum! Are you doubting my ability to be the dashing hero?” Rayla took the hand on her forehead and pressed it against her heart, no less dramatically. “I will have you know I am perfectly capable of sweeping anyone off their feet, especially you!” She punctuated the sentence with a wink that had no right to be as charming as it was. 

Doing his best to ignore the heat spreading up his neck at the gesture, Callum instead rolled his eyes and turned back to his book. “I’m sure you can, Ray. Maybe save it for prom.”

He felt, rather than saw, Rayla blink in confusion. “What’s prom?”

Callum sighed and didn’t even bother looking up at her. “It’s a weird human…dance ritual thingy. Something where people can dress up in sparkly outfits and pretend they’re special.”

“Oh.” When he looked up at her, she had a pensive look on her face. “So, sort of like Aaravos.”

Callum snorted. Then he chuckled. Then the chuckle turned into an outright laugh, and soon he and Rayla were guffawing like idiots in the middle of an otherwise completely silent library. It was completely ridiculous and also an incredibly stupid thing to do, considering the librarians had seen them come in and might ask questions about a mute Skywing laughing up a storm.

“Callum!” Rayla said in between giggles. “Callum, shut up!”

He covered his mouth, his body shaking with silent laughter. It was still some time before either of them were able to think coherently, and they still found themselves giggling every couple of seconds.

_ She’s really pretty when she laughs, _ a stray thought in Callum’s head said. He batted the words away almost immediately; things like that were becoming more and more common in his head, and it was easy to attribute it to the pressure pushing down on them both and the amount of time that they were spending together.

Not that he regretted spending time with her. He rather enjoyed it, actually. Rayla was smart and funny, and always knew the right thing to say to cheer him up, and…

…and she’d just said something to him, and he’d completely missed it.

“What?” he asked, blinking rather stupidly.

She rolled her eyes at him again and pointed to the bag sitting in the chair next to him. “I asked what else you hand in the bag, dummy.”

“Oh, uh…” Callum coughed, hoping she wouldn’t notice the redness that had now spread to his cheeks. “Just some extra homework I brought along from Aaravos’s  _ stupid  _ class.” He sighed. “You know, I should have figured out Aaravos was evil the moment he gave me a homework assignment.”

“And the sparkles,” Rayla added, her face the perfect picture of seriousness. “Don’t forget the evil sparkles.”

“Ah, of course. How could I forget?”

It wasn’t thirty seconds before they devolved into snickers and giggles for a second time, getting completely distracted, and Callum found that he didn’t mind in the slightest. Not if it was with her.

**< |>**

They eventually grew bored with the homework for Lujanne that they were  _ definitely not _ doing, and that was how Rayla got stuck with helping Callum with his homework for Aaravos’s stupid class.

Callum really hadn’t been kidding. Aaravos’s homework was  _ hard. _ No wonder nobody wanted to take his class. 

Rayla groaned and smacked her head against the table. “I know I signed up for this class to help you not get caught or whatever…but if I die, it’s still your fault and I will not hold back on blaming you.”

She looked up to see Callum blinking at her. “Rayla. We’re in the  _ library _ . This is  _ homework. _ There are literally a  _ dozen  _ other things you could use that line on.” He crossed his arms and sat back in his chair as if he had just made a fair point. Which, okay, he  _ had, _ but she wasn’t about to let him win so easily.

“Well, yeah. I’ve got a list of about fifty possible situations I could use. Do you want me to start alphabetically?”

Callum snorted and shook his head with a small smile that made her heart trip over itself. In his right hand, he twirled his pencil, and he leaned his cheek on his other hand, sighing as he stared down at the parchment in front of him. A lock of brown hair fell over his forehead.

He was unabashedly adorable, and it was doing  _ horrible _ things to her common sense and her heart rate. It was  _ annoying _ .

“Rayla,” Callum suddenly said, looking up at her with a thoughtful look on his face. “Do you have any favorite foods?”

She blinked at him. Whatever it was that she had expected to come out of his mouth, that was  _ not  _ on the list. “Wh-what?” A nervous laugh bubbled out of her as she wondered whether or not he had caught her staring. As unlikely as it was (she hadn’t exactly been  _ subtle  _ lately, and he was  _ terribly  _ oblivious), it was still somewhat possible, she supposed.

“What’s your favorite food?” he repeated, staring expectantly at her with those  _ stupidly _ cute green eyes.

Rayla forced herself to look away from him so she could actually think. She’d never really thought about it before. Certainly not recently. “I’m…not sure.”

“Oh, come on,” Callum said, still leaning his head on his hand as he stared at her. “You’ve got to have  _ some  _ sort of favorite food or treat. You hear me and Ezran raving about jelly tarts all the time.”

She sighed and sat back in her chair, propping her feet back up on the table with a temporary smirk before she delved back into thought. There was one thing, from when she was quite young…

“Runaan used to make this…weird…jelly, uh, gel thing?” Rayla made a square shape with her hands. “Moonberry delight, he called it. He only made it a few times when I was younger, when I was missing my parents a lot. It was…really good.”

When she looked back over at Callum, he had a goofy smile on his face, directed at her. Her heart made the appropriate  _ ba-dump _ sound in response as her ears reddened. 

“I’ve actually heard of that,” he said, voice soft. “Maybe one of these days we can see if the cooks will make it.”

Rayla smirked. “I don’t think it’ll be good as what Runaan made, but…okay. I’m sure the cooks will actually  _ make  _ something, instead of flinging the ingredients around like a madman.”

“Hey! I didn’t start it!”

“No, but you did drop flour all over yourself.”

“That was Gilavor!”

“Mmhmm,” she hummed, pushing her chair back so it was balanced on its back two legs. “Blame Gilly for it.”

Callum snorted, covering his mouth with his hand so he wouldn’t start belly laughing again. When he recovered, he said, “Gilavor would kill you if he heard you call him that.”

Rayla shrugged. “I’ll take that risk.”

He chuckled again, but his laughter soon tapered off as he stared at a spot above her head, looking like he was about a thousand miles away. And, she soon discovered, he sort of was.

“Sometimes I miss the jelly tarts they used to make back home.” He sighed and leaned further against his hand. “Did I ever tell you about the pranks Ezran and I used to play on the kitchen staff at KU?”

“I think you’ve mentioned it.” She put her feet back on the ground and leaned forward. “Care to share again?” The idea of Callum creeping through an air vent somewhere to get some jelly tarts was endlessly amusing for her.

Just as she’d expected, Callum’s eyes lit up in that cute little way of his. He quickly launched into a story of one of his heists that Ezran had told her just last week―not that she intended to tell Callum that. He had the best way of telling stories of his adventures at his old college, with bright eyes and a pure smile and a dozen other little details that anyone might have looked over.

When he finished his tale―a grand story of how Callum had flattered the chefs by drawing them while Ezran stole from directly behind them―Callum’s face fell unexpectedly.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Rayla asked him. She reached across the table on a whim and gently laid her hand over his.

He sighed again and gave her hand a squeeze. “It…it’s nothing. It’s just…all of those cooks probably think I’m a monster now.”

It was like a punch to the gut, and she couldn’t even imagine how  _ he  _ felt. “Oh, Callum…”

He tried to hide it, but she still heard the sniffle that escaped from him. “I…I mean, it’s fine. We’ll clear everything up and then…it’ll sort itself out, right?”

“Of course it will, Cal. I can’t believe anyone could ever think  _ you’d _ be a murderer.” She squeezed his hand tighter, wishing she could just reach over the table and give him a hug for as long as he needed.

He gave her a smile that was a mix between soft and sad. “You’d be surprised. I didn’t really have a lot of…people on my side when I left Katolis.”

He sniffled again, and she  _ hated  _ it, so this time she did leave her chair and walk around the table and wrap her arms around him. He returned the hug immediately, and she pretended not to notice the sudden dampness she felt in the crook of her neck, where his face was pressed.

“I just…” Callum’s voice was muffled, but she could still hear the shakiness. He hugged her tightly as he finished his thought. “I just wish I knew what people back home really thought of me, after everything.” Rayla rubbed comforting circles up and down his back, and that seemed to draw a chuckle out of him. “I mean I basically already know what people here think about me and…well, humans in general.”

“Oh, Callum,” she said again. She wasn’t as good with words as he was―she was a lot better with swords―but in that moment she found herself wishing that she was. She wished that she could say the perfect thing to make him feel better like he had done for her so many times. So, she tried her best, and in the process the truth of what she thought about him nearly slipped out.

“That’s…you’re…I…” The words caught in her throat, so close to slipping out of her mouth and  _ finally _ leaving the confines of her ribcage.  _ I love you, I love you, I’m in love with you so much it’s killing me. _

“I…guess so,” she settled for saying, and it wasn’t at all what she meant to say. What she  _ wanted _ to say.

Callum was the first to pull back from the hug―which she was just now realizing had stretched far longer than was considered normal between friends―and the smile he gave her was much more happy than it had been before.

“I…thanks, Rayla,” he said, squeezing her arms before pulling back completely. “Thanks for being here when I need you, just like always.”

She beamed at him, every ounce of what she felt for the ridiculous human fitting in the cracks of her smile and the canyons of her heart. “I wouldn’t have it any other way, Cal.”

His smile turned softer, more heartfelt. He looked back over toward the homework in front of him before glancing back at her.

“Hey, maybe when this is all over, I can show you the jelly tarts they make in Katolis, and you can get Runaan to make some of that Moonberry delight. We can swap!”

He was so genuine, so hopeful about it. She couldn’t help but believe that they’d reach that point some day, that they’d figure everything out and come out unscathed. His hopeful optimism was part of why she loved him, after all.

“Heh. Yeah,” Rayla said, reaching out and squeezing his shoulder. “Count on it.”

They stared at each other for a moment, and the words were caught in her throat again, but she didn’t really mind so long as she got to keep staring at him. But, as usual, it was Callum who broke the moment, turning down to look at his homework.

“A-anyway,” he said, and she thought she must have been imagining the red on his face. “Got any ideas about question number seven?”

Rayla chuckled. “It’s obvious, dummy.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah, really. It’s all about the properties of stardust…”

**Author's Note:**

> and there you have it! It's not the fluffiest thing I've ever written, but it's something nice to get me back into writing again. I can't believe it's been a whole year since I first uploaded BMRT?? So much has happened since then? Thank you so much to everyone who's enjoyed the story and supported me throughout! I really appreciate each and every one of you, and wrote this piece both to celebrate and to thank you guys. So, uh...happy BMRTniversary? I'll try to get the next chapter uploaded soon, don't worry! Quarantine has just been kind of hard on me.


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